Forgotten Land: Journeys Among the Ghosts of East Prussia

By Max Egremont

East Prussia is no longer on any map, though it was once a thriving land, famously military, deeply forested, artistically fertile, and the birthplace of Immanuel Kant.

As the scene of Stalin’s ‘terrible revenge’ it came to embody the turbulence of the twentieth century, was carved up between Poland and the USSR after World War II – and passed abruptly into history. Embarking on a remarkable journey through landscape and memory, Max Egremont has woven the stories of ghosts and survivors into an evocative and deeply moving meditation on identity and the passing of time.

‘East Prussia’s successful evocation demands both the mind of a poet who can delineate the scale of human loss, and the imagination of an historian who knows how to count the cost. Forgotten Land, a work of consummate artistry, blends both capacities to rare effect’ Spectator

‘Changing frontiers, blurred racial identities, shifting allegiances and the mass movement of people – this a story for our time’ New Statesman

‘Illuminating. A literary map to a beguiling hidden enclave of Europe’ Metro

‘Egremont’s compelling tale exploits his boundless intellectual curiosity, mastery of German and eye for whimsy as well as tragedy. The book’s canvas is remarkable. Fascinating reading’ Max Hastings, Sunday Times

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Release date: Oct 12, 2011
• ISBN: 9781447203940

Max Egremont

Max Egremont studied history at Oxford University. As well as four novels, he has written biographies of Arthur Balfour, Major-General Sir Edward Spears and Siegfried Sassoon, and Some Desperate Glory: the First World War the Poets Knew. His Forgotten Land: Journeys among the Ghosts of East Prussia (2011) has been described as ‘a work of consummate artistry’ (the Spectator), ‘a story for our time’ (the New Statesman), ‘remarkable, fascinating reading’ (the Sunday Times), ‘beautifully written’ (the Wall Street Journal), and ‘the very best form of travel writing’ (the Mail on Sunday).

Reviews for Forgotten Land

[kukulaj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Egremont traces the experiences of a moderate sized group of East Prussians across the two 20th Century world wars. The book is a bit scattered - he jumps around between the stories rather than telling them one by one. We get little snippets and then he'll back up and give the story leading up to the snippet, with maybe a few more stories in between. It doesn't get too far out of hand though. Probably the main theme is the contrast between a kind of idyllic memory of folks from East Prussia, versus the brutal realities that are lost with that kind of air brush vision. It reminds me of how plantations in the USA south get romanticized and the cruelty of the slave holding system gets left out. I like learning big history through attention to smaller details. For sure 1914-1945 concerned a lot more than East Prussia, but East Prussia provides a reasonable vantage point from which to look at those events. And it's a pretty interesting area anyway. One tidbit stood out for me - the largest bookstore in Germany was in Konigsburg!

[jacoombs_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A rambling and anecdotal travelogue and history of East Prussia. In the end it beautifully conveys to non-German readers the sense of a lost civilization (warts and all). Who knew the Curonian Spit was such a special place!